


Wishing on Bones

by monochromedaisies



Category: IU (Musician), Mamamoo, Super Junior, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Amnesia, Chemical Weapons, Drama, F/M, Fiction, Forensics, Heartbreak, M/M, Mercy Killing, Minor Character Death, Poisoning, Slight Violence, a little fluff, dangerous use of cleaning agents, different endings for different characters, laboratory forensics, police force
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-27
Updated: 2020-02-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:28:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22924912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monochromedaisies/pseuds/monochromedaisies
Summary: Behind the scenes of Seoul's Metropolitan Police Agency.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook & Lee Jieun | IU, Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V, Jung Hoseok | J-Hope/Moon Byulyi | Moonbyul, Kim Namjoon | RM/Kim Seokjin | Jin, Lee Hyukjae | Eunhyuk/Lee Jieun | IU, Min Yoongi | Suga/Park Jimin
Kudos: 1





	Wishing on Bones

**Author's Note:**

> Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
> 
> Just so we're clear, I do not know how the police operates - I have no accurate and professional knowledge about the rules and regulations of detectives, police officers or chiefs. I'm not a chemistry major, nor am I a science pro. The laboratory knowledge is purely based off research, common sense and 2 years of studying ap biology. I apologize for the flaws this fan fiction might bear. 
> 
> Other than that, enjoy!
> 
> **unedited

Yoongi steps into the crime scene without anyone noticing his presence. He’s not a very big man to begin with, his steps are always light and it’s not like he’s a heavy scented guy either. He’s quiet and simple but when comes to his skills, they are not to be challenged with. His abilities in their field of work might as well be his talents.   
He spots Jungkook standing by the window, talking to what looks like a very terrified teenage girl all clad in her pajamas whilst writing notes on his palm sized notepad. Seokjin and Namjoon are hovering over a female corpse trying their best to predict her time of death and cause of death. Hoseok works his way around the apartment looking for clues in every nook and cranny possible, a fellow cop by his side. Yoongi decides he’ll go over to Hoseok. 

As he takes two steps closer, Jimin taps his right shoulder from behind. He turns to look at Jimin. He still looks the same as he did 6 months ago; the last time they held each other close, the last time they laughed and kissed, the last time he saw Jimin’s face before he was earshot in that dank alley and Yoongi had to wait, wait for him to wake up, gain consciousness. He remembered feeling so happy when he received a call from the hospital saying that Jimin had finally came to a stable condition. However, the feeling lasted for a minute, before they dropped the bad news - there is always bad news when it comes to these things, he knows it too well as he is in this line of job after all. He rushed to the hospital with Hoseok and Jungkook in the backseat, just to hear the doctor say, "Jimin might suffer from partial amnesia so, he’ll probably forget certain details of his life when he wakes up”. Jimin stayed in comatose for 3 months after that. Seeing in lying down in that hospital bed made Yoongi angry. He loves Jimin, but going to the hospital every day after after work and seeing he still wouldn't wake up, was a tired routine. Yoongi wanted Jimin back. 

In those 3 months, Yoongi harnessed all his abilities in looking for the shooter. People called him mad for trying a little too hard to solve a case for his partner. His friends and the people who knew about them, understood. That's what mattered. People could say whatever they want for all he'd care. It’s like an itch, crawling up on your skin and waiting to eat you up until all of it ends. Yoongi had that itch. The others felt it too as he would see them leaving the precinct much later than usual.

After many sun-ups and sun-downs. Thanks to their hard work and constant efforts, they've finally found the shooter. It was a goldmine. Turned out, the shooter was also the murderer of the Sarah Lee case that he and Jimin were working on. She was a serial offender with 3 pages worth of criminal history. Not only did Yoongi and his team solve one case, in fact they had actually solved eighteen cases in total. Their team was promoted in an instant; he became Captain Min Yoongi the national hero.

“Jimin-ah,” Yoongi tries again today. From the corner of his eye he could see Hoseok standing still, observing them, making sure Yoongi’s okay. “Morning, Cap!” Jimin greets him.

He looks into Jimin’s eyes, searching for anything familiar, anything. “Our victim here was found dead on the sofa this morning. After she realized…” he points at the girl who's currently being interrogated by Jungkook. “…our victim didn’t wake up and was late enough to miss 2 lectures “, Jimin elaborates, Yoongi slumps his shoulders, nothing.

“What about the pool of blood?” Yoongi asks, focusing on the case. There's a large splash of semi dried blood staining the fluffy lilac carpet. Even the cleaners wouldn't be able to get the stain out.

“The roommate tried tapping the victim’s face in attempt to wake her up but instead blood flowed out of her mouth like a water tap.” Jungkook intervenes, Namjoon following closely behind. “And there are no signs of forced entry or break in,” Jungkook checks on his notepad.

“The time of death sits around 12am to 1am.” Yoongi turns to look at Namjoon. “Her cause of death is unclear as there’s too much stale blood to examine her nose and her throat. However, we noticed she had consumed some sort of powerful chemical. There were harsh traces on the insides of her mouth.”

Yoongi nods at Namjoon and Seokjin’s deduction skills. “Good work.”

-

“For five weeks in a row, here’s the number one hit single: Taylor Swift’s Gorgeous.” The radio host chirpily announces. This song has been on the radio like a broken record. It won’t stop playing.

“Not this again.” Taehyung frowns as he shuts it off. His legs can’t stop shaking. Both of his hands are tightly gripping the steering wheel. It’s his first day. He makes mental checks on everything. Tied shoelaces, check. Clean glasses, check. Morning coffee, check. Combed hair, check. Nothing seems to be out of place. 

He parks on the right side of the lot, quite a distance from the entrance. The walk will hopefully help shake off the jitters. He’s wearing his good luck perfume and his white button up isn't creased yet. So far so good.

As he enters the building, Taehyung spots a number of people milling about. Most of them are carrying papers, obviously doing something important. Just like that he's instantly excited to be a part of this. He clears his throat and strides purposely towards the information counter. It’s his first day transferring from Daegu’s humble crime lab to the best crime lab in Korea, Seoul. He’s most excited about the tech facilities, and the level of professionalism. It makes his heart flutter just by thinking about it.

“Hi, I’m Kim Taehyung and I’m supposed to start my first day as a lab technician here,” he informs the very pretty girl manning the desk. She has thick brown curls on top of her pretty little head, big brown glossy eyes with a set of pleasantly plump lips. She’s cute but she’s not really Taehyung’s type.

“Okay, one second sir,” the receptionist smiles. She makes a few phone calls and types away on her computer to confirm his claim.

While Taehyung waits, someone passes by him. Someone in all black from top to bottom. Black shirt tucked into black skinny jeans, sleeves folded up to his elbow, jet black hair and equally black combat boots. A black leather watch wraps around his wrist snugly. From the corner of his eye, Taehyung notices the man rushing to catch the elevator whilst anxiously checking his wristwatch.

He catches a glimpse of the man’s face as he steps inside the vacant elevator. It was the biggest mistake Taehyung has ever made in his entire boring life. That’s one way to break the good luck streak this morning.

The man was beautiful; he’s nothing short of gorgeous. The dim elevator lights compliments his skin perfectly. He even has the jawline of a Greek god. Maybe it’s Taehyung’s imagination but he could literally see specks of glitter floating around him. Taylor Swift’s Gorgeous is literally haunting his ears. ‘God’ he sighs internally.

His heart is beating so loud he swears the pretty clerk could hear him. His hand glides over his chest to make sure. The butterflies in his stomach start to dance. He feels mildly dizzy, he’s can feel his mouth is gaping open. His whole body becomes youthful again (not that he’s that old).

A part of Taehyung feels cheated, just because. It’s like fate is trying to play mind games on him or something. In this case, heart games because everyone knows—including fate apparently-- he’s a total sucker for unrealistic novel based romances. The elevator dings and the doors close. The stranger’s gone.

Fate says ‘no’.

Taehyung never learns. He’s very superficial and he knows it. He finds 32 a little too late for change. 

Maybe after the briefing, he’ll go home, draw a warm vanilla scented bath and listen to all of Adele's albums while he contemplates his life.

The clerk is still juggling between typing away on her desktop and conversing at the end of the line. He sighs, as a thought appears ‘I’m too old for this shit.’ Nevertheless, he smiles at her whenever she steals glances at him, maintaining his manners. He needs to cheer up; he’s in the best crime lab in Korea. He’s living his 15-year-old dream.

Finally, she puts down the phone and turns to face Taehyung. “They’re ready for you now,” she says as she gets up from her seat. “I’ll take you.”

-

“Any updates, hyung?” Hoseok inquires as he barges in on Seokjin helping Moonbyul filling out paperwork.

Seokjin jumps at Hoseok’s voice. “Geez, Hoseok! Didn’t you learn to knock?” he disapproves, hands on his hips. Moonbyul chuckles at Seokjin getting startled so easily. 

“Sorry hyung.” Hoseok smiles like the sunshine he is.

Seokjin’s heart softens at Hoseok’s demeanor. If there’s one thing Hoseok can do, it’s charming the pants off everybody and he means everybody. His smile could let him out on any situation, he's that good. Brat. 

Besides, ever since an under influenced night of red hair dyeing at Jungkook’s apartment, Hoseok easily breaks hearts in his wake. “It is okay, Hoseok-ah,” Seokjin relents. Like a fool.

Hoseok flashes him a thank you smile. Different but still blinding. He starts walking towards them as he closes the door behind him. “So, what’ve we got?” he asks.

“Our victim is Ahn Hyejin, 32 years old.” Moonbyul explains. Seokjin scoots over to the corpse and removes the white sheet used to cover her body. “She had no signs of struggle or defensive wounds.”

There are a few lines on her stomach, indicating it had been cut with a sharp object. Moonbyul continues to gently lift up that line to show her internal organs. It had the image of an opened door, wide enough to see what's inside. She lays both the flesh on body's sides. The organs had shrunk somehow. The stomach is especially bad, the tissues are wrinkled and rigid. They have the spitting image of prunes, red, dry prunes. 

Seokjin starts to remove the skin layer of her stomach, only to reveal her insides are burnt chemically. “Other than the smell of rotting meat, what else can you smell?” Seokjin quizzes Hoseok.

Hoseok tries his best to sniff like a blood hound. “Something sharp, something warm,” he says. Seokjin and Moonbyul turn to look at each other knowingly. “Chlorine, maybe?” he adds inquisitively.

“Congratulations, Jung Hoseok. You are correct.” Moonbyul praises, clapping once. Her smile somehow reminds Hoseok of those female idols on TV. “Her esophagus, mouth and stomach are in harsh conditions. Dried and burnt chemically.”

“But that isn’t the only chemical she consumed,” Seokjin interrupts. “We retrieved traces of very strong cyanide, some Tylenol, alcohol, possibly vodka, and Rohypnol.”

“So, prior to Ahn Hyejin’s death, she was drinking at either a party, bar or a club?,” Hoseok presumes.

“Didn’t Jungkook interview her roommate? Did she say where Ahn Hyejin had been?” Moonbyul asks.

“Her roommate didn’t say anything specific. She just claimed that Hyejin likes to go out every night possible,” he recalls Jungkook’s presenting his findings at a team meeting the other day.

Seokjin puts her organs and skin layers back on. When he finishes, he carefully places the sheet over her like before. “Ah, a social butterfly,” he interjects.

“Rohypnol is a pretty dangerous drug though. It’s a well-known date-rape substance. Didn’t that mean someone was trying to bring Ahn Hyejin home?” Hoseok speculates.

“Oh, also,” Seokjin forgot something. “There were no traces of semen or any other foreign body fluids anywhere on her body. She had no clear indication of having any type of sexual intercourse that night.” 

“If there is someone psycho enough to slip chlorine, cyanide and Tylenol in her drink, can’t she taste them?” Hoseok asks further.

“We believed the Tylenol was consumed two hours before her death. The effects were at its peak an hour before she was found by her roommate.” Seokjin explains to him.

“It could be that she was forced to drink the chlorine and cyanide after the Rohypnol kicked in,” Moonbyul casually says before taking a seat next to the corpse refrigerators.

“That was what I was about to say!” Hoseok beams at Moonbyul. She blushes pleasantly. “In this case, it’s only obvious the murder was premeditated.”

Hoseok's phone suddenly rings, the tacky cutesy ringtone annoying the ears of the people in autopsy lab. He picks up the phone and apologizes to a glaring Bogum who is currently operating on a slightly burnt male corpse at the other end. 

“Hello, hyung.” It’s Jungkook.

“Yes Jungkook-ah?” Hoseok says sweetly, embarrassment still swimming his cheeks.

“We’re doing an interrogation on Ahn Hyejin’s suspects. Meet us at 1A21F asap.”

“You could’ve just texted me you know,” Hoseok argues.

He hears Jungkook's breath faltering a bit. “You’re right” he chuckles. “I don’t know why I did that.” And he hung up, strange kid.

Hoseok tsk’ed at him for being so thoughtless.He could’ve saved face before Bogum got annoyed at him. “Ciao guys.” Hoseok waves to Seokjin and Moonbyul. They waved back.

Immediately after Hoseok leaves, Seokjin turns to look at Moonbyul. 

“What?” she asks flatly.

“You like him, don’t you?”

She sits still for a moment. Panic obviously resonating through her body like a running bullet train. Her heart drops to her stomach at one point. 

Moonbyul looks around the lab to see if Seokjin’s careless presumption attracts anyone’s attention. Thank god, no one cared about anything other than the dead in here. No offense to the dead.

“Did you just check to see if people heard me or not?” Seokjin teases. Sometimes she just wants to rip all his blond hair out and stuff it in his mouth. This adds to one of those times.

Moonbyul gives in to his annoying antics, like she usually does. Its because she realized whether she likes it or not, someone’s bound to find out anyway.

“So, what if I do?!” Moonbyul says, looking away and blushing harder than before. “It’s not like he notices anyway, besides I--he’s probably got his eye on someone.”

Seokjin draws nearer to her and sets his hand on her shoulder, towering over her sitting figure. She turns to look at his face expecting good things to come out of that mouth, better things. “You could stalk his Instagram,” he suggests in an insincere manner, totally ignorant of her inner turmoil. 

“Like you haven’t tried right?” he breaks into a comical laughter. Moonbyul frowns.

“Not funny,” she pouts. Seokjin continues to laugh again, he laughs so hard he almost chokes himself while doing so. 

-

Jungkook slides the picture of Ahn Hyejin softly across the table for the first suspect to see. It’s an enlarged passport picture of the victim. “Do you recognize this woman?” Jungkook starts.

The suspect picks photo into his hands. A crease appears in between his eyebrows. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend,” the suspect seems confused. “What about her?”

Jungkook slides another photo. This time, it's a picture of Ahn Hyejin at the crime scene with stale blood dripping out of her mouth.

Instantaneously, horror flashes the man’s face, his breathing hitched. “Seonghwa-sshi, your girlfriend was found dead by her roommate two days ago. We found a significant amount of chlorine and cyanide in her body.” Jungkook says as he walks behind him and stops beside the man whilst leaning his front lower body, hands on the table. “Care to explain?” Jungkook asks calmly.

His face falls into shock when Jungkook finishes his sentence. “You think I did it?!” Seonghwa raises his voice.

It all seems very odd for this man to be in a relationship with the victim, but had absolutely no clue about her death two days ago. Aren't you supposed to check up on your significant other every day?

“I find it funny that you,” Jungkook points his index finger at him. “--had no clue your girlfriend,” he taps on Hyejin’s gory picture. “--died.”

Seonghwa stays silent, his eyes widening at the burst of information. He feels sick to his stomach, his heart clenches at the sight of his girlfriend’s printed corpse. Everything seemed fine, it’s normal for Hyejin not to respond to his texts immediately. She would take hours and sometimes would even respond the next day.

But this time, she's not busy. She’s dead.

“She was drugged too. When you picked her up to send her home didn’t you smell anything strong or strange perhaps?” Jungkook continues.

“When I took her home, she was already passed out. It happened so many times that I thought she was just passed out drunk. I didn’t smell anything weird either, just the overwhelming smell of her perfume.” Seonghwa recalls expressively.

Jungkook nods. “I’m assuming you and Miss Ahn went somewhere together for the night, prior before her death. Was it a party or a club?”

If anyone’s drink was to be roofied, the fundamental places where detectives should start looking are places where people are looking for some fun, meeting strangers - a party, bar or club.

"We went to a club in Gangnam. It was my best friend’s birthday, she invited us.”

“What was the name of this club?” Jungkook gets his palm sized notebook ready.

“Spades,” he sighs. “The name was Spades. It’s an underground club hosted by Louis Vuitton.” 

Jungkook jots it down quickly. “Did Hyejin have any enemies? Any unresolved issues with anyone?”

Seonghwa wants to say something but stops himself. His expression morphs into something unfamiliar. Jungkook stares at him sharply, the other stays quiet. If the suspect can’t seem to divulge such simple information, this case is going to have a hard time cracking. Jungkook’s not down for another of those late-night take outs, If Jieun was around to keep him company it would be a different story. “Mr. Lee, I want you to be comfortable telling me. If you can’t tell me anything, her murder would stay un-avenged. She’ll die in vain, Seonghwa-sshi,” he tries gain Seonghwa's trust.

He softens under Jungkook’s words. His breath hitches for a second; he stops himself but tries again. Seonghwa is clearly uncomfortable but the thought of his girlfriend carelessly murdered sends shivers down his spine. His conscience is screaming at him to do the right thing, so he does. “She does-did have an enemy,” he pauses.   
“Go on, Seonghwa-sshi,” Jungkook reassures.

He bites his lips before speaking. “Hyejin and my best friend don’t mix. They’ve been feuding since we dated.”

“And what’s the name of this best friend of yours?”

"Lee Chaerin.” he says with a little hesitation.

“Did Hyejin ever tell you why they didn’t get along?”

“Hyejin kept saying Chaerin’s in love with me. I didn’t believe her of course.” he replies. “We're completely platonic!” 

Jungkook rolls his eyes internally. This man clearly doesn't know women's intuition. He can't remember how many times his mother whooped his ass after school when her suspicious intuitions became reality in the principal's office or that one time where his high school girlfriend suspected Jungkook was secretly going to his brother's frat parties, which he was. They ended because of his 'secrets'. He learns not to mess with women after that.

“Did you see anything odd that Miss Chaerin might’ve brought with her?” Jungkook probes. “Cleaning agents?”

Seonghwa creases his eyebrows again. “On second thought, I did see something weird,” he frowns. “I saw a bottle of bleach sitting on the passenger seat of her car blatantly,” He shivers, as the hesitant words come out of his mouth. “Do you think it’s her? But they never fought physically though. Hyejin’s not the type to care about anybody’s business,” he continues.

Jungkook tucks his palm sized notebook back in his pocket. He intertwines his fingers together on the table to look at Seonghwa. “All I can say for now is, there’s a chance of Miss Lee Chaerin being the murderer. Whether you believed Hyejin or not, Chaerin has to be brought in for questioning,” he says softly, careful not to outrage Seonghwa.

Everyone is automatically a suspect until the case is solved. No one is innocent until its proven in the legal system, be it their family members or their pets.

Seonghwa becomes quiet after that, seemingly thinking over about everything. “If it’s her, please be gentle. She’s been through a lot,” he finally says.

One thing Jungkook learns in his line of work is never make promises. Especially the ones you can’t keep. “Of course,” he smiles. The second one is to never lie, even if it hurts. People deserve to know the truth no matter what. Jungkook's been in the force long enough to know the line between keeping promises and telling lies is thinner than people think.

They escort him out of the interrogation room, his shoulders slumped out of weakness. Its never easy to accept the misdeeds of people who you love, especially ones you knew your whole life. Jungkook watches him leave before he clicks the button on the wall, announcing through the speaker. "We've got a lead."

\--

"Taehyung-sshi, can you please pass me the petri dish next to your microscope?” Namjoon motions with his hands as he eyes a sample through his own microscope.

Taehyung does as he’s told passing him the petri dish into the other’s hand carefully before he resumes on fingerprinting the foreign trace on Hyejin’s metal choker. “No need to be so formal with me, hyung,” he laughs softly whilst holding onto a solution placed inside a spray bottle.

He deflates when Namjoon ignores him. Namjoon’s not that much of a talker as he prefers to do his work in complete silence. Maybe that’s why he’s the best amongst them.  
He’s only been here for three days and yet there are detectives coming and going looking for Namjoon. A lot of people seem to know Namjoon but the other still doesn’t talk to them. The only person he’s seen Namjoon talk to that small detective. They always leave for lunch together. He begins to wonder if that’s Namjoon’s boyfriend.

“It’s just the way he is, Taehyung-ah.” Jieun intervenes after seeing Taehyung looking like a kicked puppy. “It’ll take time for him to be informal with you.”

“How long did it take you, noona?” Taehyung asks.

“I’m not sure, maybe about a year?” she tilts her head upwards trying her best to remember. It’s weird how they are talking about Namjoon as if he isn’t there. But the man isn’t going to respond to either of them anyway.

“Sounds reasonable though,” Taehyung laughs. The mood lightens afterwards, occasionally talking in between silences. Even Namjoon stopped making the atmosphere awkward, perhaps he felt guilty.

The chemical solution Taehyung sprays on the metal choker did leave fingerprints and also a palm print. There is a high chance that Ahn Hyejin could have been dragged or grabbed by the choker. Taehyung imprints the fingerprints and palm prints on a piece of thin plastic, in a minute he’ll run it to the database. If only, he remembers how to get there.

On his first day, they did a few briefings and all the compulsory tour of the building. There are six lab technicians transferees including him. His gloomy mood disappeared instantly when the tour started. The crime lab is all he could ever dream of: nothing more or nothing less. The facilities are indeed modernized and high tech. It looks nothing like the one in Daegu. Here they have glass elevators, state of the art bathrooms, advanced machineries, an extensive database search lab and many, many things that Taehyung was too star struck to say the least. He almost tears up on the inside when he found out that the toilets are accommodated with bidets.

He figures he’ll just ask Jieun to come with him. That way he has someone to write the notes and print out the evidence. No need for multitasking which by the way, he’s worst at.  
The door suddenly swings open, he hears unfamiliar footsteps. Taehyung’s back is facing the door so he can’t really see who it is. In their lab, there are only 3 technicians including him. It’s easy to figure out who it is without greeting. Taehyung has learned to memorize their perfumes, footsteps, heat.

He turns around anyway, curious as to whom it is.

At first, he couldn’t believe his eyes, he is pretty sure his mouth is hanging open. It feels like a dream, a dream he doesn’t want to wake up from. Taehyung’s heart skips a beat at the sight of him.

It’s the handsome elevator stranger.

And this time, Taehyung is actually scared. What is fate trying to pull?

The last time Taehyung saw him, he was all rugged and cool dressed in all black. This time, he’s wearing a long-sleeved white Henley looking gorgeous in his ridiculously fit body. And it’s like the stranger wears black skinny jeans on purpose just to show off his hot muscly thighs to tempt poor innocent souls like Taehyung. If he’s being honest, he feels so attacked right now because who looks that good on duty. His ID tag around his neck makes Taehyung realize how sexy his collarbones are, damn.

He stands there frozen, gawking at the stranger like some animal. To top it all off, the stranger doesn’t even look at him. He’s busy looking at Jieun diluting blood stains in small vials. He’s smiling at her back, smiling fondly while she concentrates. The stranger’s eyes are glossy, beautiful and round. Those eyes look like they’re in love.  
Oh my God! He’s in love, Taehyung deducts suddenly in realization. He’s in love with Lee Jieun.

“Ready to go?” the stranger finally says. Even his voice is perfect, Taehyung mourns internally.

Jieun almost drops the vial in her hand. She puts down the vial with the rest on the testing tube compartments. “You scared me,” she gasps but smiles, nonetheless. She walks towards the refrigerator with the compartments in hand.

She passes by Taehyung and sees the look on his face. Taehyung changes his expression into a smile quickly hoping she won’t take notice of the gawking face he made earlier. No one likes their boyfriend to be gawked at. Not even Taehyung.

She bursts a smile and draws out a small laugh. It’s the first time Taehyung hears it. Her laugh is soft. The clear image of bells and a fluttering wind chime appears at the top of his head. She’s pretty, Taehyung concludes.

“Taehyung this is Jeon Jungkook,” she introduces them. “Jungkook this is Kim Taehyung, he’s new.” she adds while she takes off her rubber gloves and hangs her laboratory coat on the coat rack.

Jungkook strides towards Taehyung and he can feel his heart pulsating heavily against his ribcage. “Taehyung-sshi, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” Jungkook smiles while offering a handshake. He looks even more youthful like this, his bunny teeth is on display along with his eye crinkles.

Taehyung needs to snap out of his stupid reverie and focus. He musters a smile and takes Jungkook’s warm, warm hands. “Hello Jungkook-sshi, the pleasure’s all mine.”  
Taehyung says trying his best to stay normal. Jungkook stares at him longer than necessary, his smile faltering a bit. It seems like he’s calculating Taehyung. Taehyung feels embarrassed all of a sudden and he awkwardly lets go Jungkook’s hands.

Instantly, Jungkook turns around and bows at Jieun like a gentleman asking a girl to dance, “After you, milady,” before escorting her out of the door. “It was nice meeting you, Taehyung-sshi!” Jungkook beams at him before he leaves. “I won’t be long!” Jieun says shortly after.

His shoulders sag down out of relief as he crashes to sit on the nearest chair. He closes his eyes as he thinks of what just happened. His heart calms down a bit, he isn’t really in the place to say that he’s fine.

“I saw that look Taehyung-sshi.” Namjoon says out of the blue, startling Taehyung. Taehyung forgets that the elder man is still there. “Be careful,” he warns. “He only has eyes for Jieun noona,” he continues while grabbing a bite of his pretzel. “You might get hurt.”

“Can I ask?” Taehyung opens his eyes to look at Namjoon leaning his lower back body against the marbled top looking back at him. “What are they?” he indicates Jungkook and Jieun.

“Ah,” Namjoon chuckles. “They’re not dating if that’s what you’re asking,” he reassures.

Taehyung sighs again, he needs to keep reminding himself that superficial things don’t last but that doesn’t stop him. He loves cute things. He likes things that are beautiful. He would rather risk his life for aesthetics than having none at all.

There’s a small mirror on Taehyung’s side of the lab, he sees his reflection. He frowns in an instant.

He looks like a mess. His brown hair is tousled from the times he ruffles his own hair in habit; his silver rimmed glasses almost fell from his nose; his lips looks chapped as hell. He’s not cute at all. This is what Jeon Jungkook is staring at a few minutes ago. He quickly fixes his image. He feels embarrassed again.

He imagined meeting Jungkook at his best state. He wanted to be so hot, Jungkook will melt. He’s really not that bad looking when he’s out to dance in Gucci and a night away in contact lenses.

Now, it’s creepy nerd lab technician working with the unbeatably sweet Jieun noona whilst Taehyung will always remember him as the hottie who stepped on the elevator stealing his heart away on one Monday morning.

Taehyung realizes Namjoon hasn’t moved an inch from his desk. He’s munching on a huge ass pretzel by the counter he probably brought at some stall called ‘Fresh pretzels’ judging what it says from the paper bag. He doesn’t mind Namjoon eating lunch, but they aren’t allowed to eat in the lab according to basic protocol.

It’s strange that Namjoon-- being the best at their job-- is breaking the rules. Usually, at this time of day, the pretty small detective would pick him up or Namjoon would announce his leave to rush to the parking lot. “Isn’t your boyfriend supposed to pick you up today, hyung?” he asks Namjoon carefully.

Namjoon looks at him midway through chewing his half-eaten pretzel. He almost looks comical. It makes him look normal for a second. It shows that he’s a lab nerd too. He really wants to snap a Polaroid of this expression, but that’d be rude and it’s not like he has any of his fillers left.

Namjoon drops his pretzel back into the paper bag. “He’s not my boyfriend,” he says flatly. “He’s my best friend.” Namjoon continues.

“Oh, sorry.” Taehyung apologizes. He feels terrible now, all his deductions about them are wrong. He needs to break his calculating habit.

“Don’t be,” Namjoon sighs, confusing Taehyung. “You’re not the first person who said that.”

“Yeah?” Taehyung replies. “Who’s the first?”

Namjoon narrows his eyes at him. “For a newbie, you ask too many personal questions.”

Taehyung laughs cutely in response. “Habit,”

“It was Kim Seokjin from autopsy,” something in Namjoon’s face changes, he sighs. He looks kind of sad for a moment. “I’m sure you’ve heard of him,” he clears his throat awkwardly.

Even though, Taehyung’s only been here for a total of three days. There’s not a single soul who doesn’t know who Kim Seokjin is. He’s extremely popular and a bit of out of reach. He’s blond and tall with nice pair of lips. The autopsy lab gained the ‘beautiful people lab’ reputation after Kim Seokjin’s obvious admittance. After then and only then did people realize how gorgeous all the doctors are in the autopsy lab.

It’s a surprise to know Namjoon’s associated with someone like that. No matter how quiet he is, he seems to have a string of people aware of his credibility. Maybe that’s it, maybe Namjoon and Seokjin are on the same platform but from two different worlds.

“Yeah, I’ve heard of him.” Taehyung replies with a sweet smile.

-

The apartment complex is nice, lavish even. The building is designed to look like it belongs in Rome not Korea. There are Greek statues adorning the sides of the rooftops and pillars with weeds and lotuses weaving around them. The walls are made of pure white marble with gold lining the windows.

The insides are more luxurious with beige-colored marble flooring, a huge crystal chandelier hangs in the middle of the lobby, and there are varieties of gems plastered on the ceilings complete with colored glasses replication of Greek mythical creatures. Hoseok thinks he might go blind if stares at them for too long.

There are two huge security guards by the entrance, one on the left and one on the right. The one on the left had jet black hair tied and tucked into a neat ponytail, his face looks a bit aggressive with healed slash scars on the sides of his right cheek. The one on the right has overbearingly huge arm muscles peeking out of his black tee shirt. He makes his name obvious by the necklace hanging on his muscled clavicle, Chuck.

“Non-residents are forbidden.” Chuck warns Hoseok whilst staring down at him. Jungkook and Hoseok both look small compared to these two monsters guarding the palace.  
Jungkook, however, knows better. Sometimes the art of ‘actions speak louder than words’ works better than any strategy. At times like these it’s better to let them have their fun until it’s over.

Jungkook pushes the left flap of his blazer to the back, showing off the legitimate police officer badge strapped on his belt next to the 38-caliber gun. He tosses a serious expression looking straight into the left security guard’s face, carefully communicating with his eyes.

He draws the coldest look ever, a look Hoseok has seen before. It’s a look that Jungkook only uses when he means business. The tension he gathers puts heavy pressure in the atmosphere, intimidating his opponents. These cocky security guards are no different. It makes Hoseok confident. He knows this’ll go smoothly.  
“Do you have a warrant?” the left one asks, obviously shaken up.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Hoseok taps the signed warrant on the security guard’s chest twice. He takes the letter and meticulously scans the permit. He shows the warrant to Chuck for reassurance. Chuck nods his head.

“This is Tim from front entrance,” he reports to the small mic on his chin. “Claire, from front desk speaking” a female voice replies, the quality of the sound is pretty scratchy but clear.

“Is resident Miss Lee Chaerin from 6B in?” Tim checks. There’s a silence before Claire spoke again. “Yes, she’s in. Who wants to know?”

Tim looks at both Hoseok and Jungkook nervously. Jungkook gives him a nod, signaling to proceed. Tim confirms to the mic, “The police.”

They were granted access in an instant. The internal female security guard and Miss Lee Holly from front desk insisted to lead them to Lee Chaerin’s apartment. As they both understood from her words earlier, for ‘service and quality assurance’.

Holly tried to ring the doorbell for them but Hoseok refused. He sent her a polite smile and explains in the most polite and charming way possible that they prefer to do these procedures on their own. It took a while before she was standing still, star struck and stricken on Hoseok that she compiles. She leaves but orders the female security guard to stand outside the door. Jungkook rings the doorbell.

“Who is it?” Lee Chaerin shouts through the door. They choose to stay quiet until she opens.

She looks completely different from the picture they’ve obtained at the precinct with her white business suit and made up face. This version is much more attractive compared to the plain Jane she poses for the passport photo. “Police,” Hoseok flashes Chaerin his badge.

She unexpectedly smiles at the pair of them, smiles sweetly showing her upper teeth. The light, easy air morphs into something more dangerous, something more ensnaring. It’s the feeling you get when you upset a beast by entering his castle.

“Come in,” she gestures inside her home. They trail behind her to the living room. The colors are morbid compared to the posh yellow and beige they portray outside. The flooring is wooden, painted deep black. The couches are all velvet fabric of red and grey. The curtains are embellished with dramatic smears of silk brown with a black base.

Above from where they are sitting, settles a black exaggerated crystal chandelier, much fancier than the one in the lobby.

“Anything you’d like to drink?” she says as she stands before them, a soft smile painted on her lips and no less of a twinkle in her eyes.

“If it’s alright, we’d like to start right away.” Jungkook answers firmly but not before taking note of her stance.

“Nonsense, detective!” she laughs, a hollow sound, catching them off guard. “Guests should be prepared with servings.” she ignores them completely and rushes to the open kitchen, something quaint and homey compared to the rest of the interior. The kitchen is obviously her comfortable zone.

They could clearly see her from here, preparing tea. She puts the kettle on, retrieving four teabags from the cabinets, taking out biscuits from the pantry. She doesn’t look nervous at all, she’s calm and collected from the way she’s delicately pouring sugar into the teapot. No shakes or tremors. It is uncommon as most people would act unusual or ran off even, if the police showed up at their front door whether they’ve committed a felony or not.

She settles the tray carefully on the elegant coffee table before them. She then takes a seat on the sofa across Jungkook, one leg crosses on top of the other. “Please,” she grins gesturing the serving. They each pour a cup out of courtesy.

“So, to what do I owe the pleasure?” she drones, her voice smooth.

Hoseok sets the cup down after taking a small sip. It was very sweet. “It’s nothing much, Lee Chaerin-sshi,” he smiles challenging her with his charm. “We’re going to ask a few questions and we’ll be on our way.” His smile doesn’t impress her at all.

“Before we head to the questions, we want to inform you that this conversation is recorded purely as evidence to assist our investigation,” Jungkook explains as he puts his iPhone on the table for recording.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Chaerin says suddenly, looking confused, her eyes glancing between the two stern expressions of the detectives. “What is this about?” she raises her eyebrow.

“We’ll get to that shortly.” Hoseok replies as he presses the red button, the start of the recording.

“Do you know this woman?” Jungkook starts. He fishes an enlarged A4 sized passport photograph of Ahn Hyejin from a brown envelope and hands it to Chaerin. For two seconds it is evident to the both of them that her expression is changing, a slight frown forms between the creases of her eyebrows before smiling back again. “Yes,” she replies looking straight at Jungkook. “I hate her.” she confesses suddenly.

Jungkook takes note of the present tense. “Well, she was found dead three days ago by her roommate,” Jungkook gives her another photograph. This time it’s the one their forensics team took, the one where Ahn Hyejin was lying dead with a pool of blood on the lilac colored sofa, mouth slacked open trickling with gore. “She was presumed dead after she returned from your birthday party.”

Chaerin hands the photos back to Jungkook. She finally stops acting so polite. Her true nature is on full display, her smile turns sour and her cheeks drop. She slouches her back on the sofa as she uncrosses her legs. She starts to pour a cup of tea for herself.

” We found traces of chlorine and cyanide in her body.” Hoseok breaks the ice, looking no less cold than she is. “That was her cause of death, Chaerin-sshi.”  
“What are you talking about?” she holds the handle of the teacup. “I didn’t do it,” she chuckles.

“A witness claimed to have spotted a bottle of bleach on your passenger’s seat. What do you make of that?” Jungkook concludes, this time her confidence wavers. The obvious twitch forming at the corner of her lips instantly paints a different aura—now she’s intimidated.

She gets up from the gray velvet sofa and picks up the tray of servings. She leaves the half drank teacups on the coffee table, cold. The kitchen lights flicker back on as she places it on in the washer.

Jungkook closes his eyes as he sighs. “Stop with the games, Lee Chaerin-sshi,” he intervenes. “We found your fingerprint on Ahn Hyejin’s metal choker.” Jungkook shoves the positive evidence paperwork across the table. “Just confess, make this easier for everyone.”

She shrinks into a corner at Jungkook’s sentence. Her shoulders slump, the sound of a lighter ignited from the drawer of a vintage furniture. She turns around, a gun in her hand. She laughs maliciously, the ghost smokes leaving her lips. The picture of a strong woman is vividly captured. The nature of her true manner is shown.

The clock ticks, time stops. The sound of clocking gun being brought to the right side of her head caused the two detectives to emit faces of horror. Her heart is unexpectedly volatile. Love is involved, Jungkook says to himself. “Put the gun down,” Jungkook tells her.

“I won’t,” she smirks. “I won’t put it down. All I’ve been is down, never up.” She chuckles. “A little unfair isn’t it, detective?”

“Life is unfair, Chaerin-sshi. You have to accept that.” Hoseok says slowly as he gets up from his position. “Some things are not meant to be,” he continues, drawing closer to her.  
“How about effort, detective?” she shouts hysterically, unconsciously retracts the gun lower.

“Effort is attractive they say,” her voice is shaking.

Jungkook keeps his eyes steady on the deadly object. “I tried so hard and it worked,” she smiles sadly. Her guard gradually let down.

“But it didn’t work on Lee Seonghwa-sshi.” Jungkook braves himself.

“Exactly,” Chaerin snaps her fingers and brazenly points the gun at him. “Exactly,” she repeats herself. Jungkook doesn’t flinch. It’s not the first time someone tries to shoot him.  
“You don’t want to do this, Chaerin-sshi,” Hoseok adds. He moves a step closer to her; the aura he emits is amazing. The tension in the atmosphere slowly fades with his soft-spoken words. It’s obvious she isn’t going to give up but it’s also obvious she has softened a little. “Think of Seonghwa, what would he think?”

All of a sudden, realization dawns upon her. “It was Seonghwa, wasn’t it? The one who told you about the bleach,” she gasps in horror, hoping that her assumption is wrong. Her eyes close to manic as she stares directly towards Jungkook.

"I’m sorry,” there’s nothing better that Jungkook can say.

As if all the gusto and strength left her, her legs weakened as she crumbles to the floor on her knees, her grip on the gun loosening. Hoseok immediately runs towards her and takes possession of the gun.

"Lee Chaerin-shi, you’re under arrest for the murder of Ahn Hyejin. You are to remain silent and anything you say could be used against you in the court of law…” Jungkook states calmly as he put her hands behind her back before handcuffing her wrist. Both Jungkook and Hoseok walk her to the police car, Jungkook on her right and Hoseok on her left.

There are commotions and unsurprisingly reporters and cameras everywhere. It must be one of the few reporters stalking outside the building, waiting for hot scoop and celebrity scandal of the infamous tenants of the building. It was a scandal alright.

And all the while, Lee Chaerin’s shoulders are slump, her feet trudging slowly and tears streaming down her face. There were no hysteric sobs or dramatic wails, just silent tears. And both Hoseok and Jungkook know that the trigger to overkills is love even if love is innocent in itself.

"Chaerin-ah!” a voice shouted over the commotion. It seems to startle Chaerin out of her reverie as she looks around for the voice.  
It’s Lee Seonghwa.

Both Jungkook and Hoseok turn to look at each other. They pause outside the police car, signaling to the police officer beside them to hold on.  
“I’ll come visit!” Seonghwa cries, his face is red and there are tears and snot all over. It is an ugly sight to see. “I’ll come for sure. A-and!” he pauses, seemingly hesitant to say the next thing.

“I forgive you.”

It seems there are more to this than both Hoseok and Jungkook thought. But in the end, the murder of Ahn Hyejin has been brought to justice. That's all that matters.


End file.
